Clarity
by Scorpio-Rat
Summary: In a powerful ninja clan like the Hyuga, only the strongest of hearts survive. Hinata was never strong enough, until a certain person inspired her to keep trying no matter how many times she failed. But what if Naruto never got to inspire Hinata on that fateful day by saving her from bullies? How would this single change affect her and the lives of countless others? Divergent AU.
1. Chapter 1

_"I'll be strong like my father, and I'll be kind like my mother!"_

These were the words that Hinata lived by for as long as she could remember. It was once a creed with no solid meaning or definition, but on certain day of her life, that simple phrase became something for her to focus on, a source of clarity. Before that sudden epiphany, Hinata's childhood was far easier.

She was a gentle toddler, almost to the point of being considered fragile, but her parents didn't seem to mind, despite her grandparents' concerns of her being too soft. Mother let her wander in the back gardens, showing her the different plants that grew and what they were used for. Father read her books and taught her literacy when he could make the time, patiently guiding her clumsy fingers to trace each word until they were memorized. He smiled when she recalled a kanji's meaning. Her father smiled much more back then. Sometimes her Uncle Hizashi came to visit them, and she would play with Neji for a while, running around and throwing flimsy paper shuriken as they pretended to be ninja. Even at the age of four, her "big brother" always wished to be a shinobi.

And then she turned three. There was a small party held for her, but her father had taken Neji inside towards the end. He came back out again a few hours later with bandages wrapped around his forehead and tears of pain in his eyes. The occasion gained a sour feel after that, and her uncle left as soon as he could. He was more bitter from then on. The next day, Father brought her to the dojo for the first time, saying that he was going to teach her how to fight. She didn't comment on his decision, for she was too excited about becoming strong like him to care. Hinata was taught the first basic stances of the Gentle Fist style, and diligently practiced every day after that. Father was proud of her, and the other clan members were pacified with her progress.

Her mother started to teach Hinata other things she deemed important to know. She now had lessons on etiquette, clan history and traditions, and being a proper woman. After being introduced to so many new concepts at once, Hinata finally asked her father why it was all necessary in the middle of their daily training session. He had sat her down and explained, in the simplest of terms, that she was his heiress and would one day have to lead the Hyuga Clan. She had to be capable of doing so when it was time to take over as head. His answer satisfied her, so she continued to run through her stances without further complaint.

And then it got harder. Her Uncle Hizashi died a few weeks after her third birthday after she was kidnapped by a ninja in the middle of the night, and Neji never played with her anymore. She couldn't understand why he hated her now. Later, she learned that it was a Cloud shinobi who tried to take her. She never thought of the Cloud Village the same way again. The once easy Gentle Fist stances turned into full katas, each one involving countless moves to perform. She was never fast enough to please her father anymore, no matter how hard she tried. Ko, her assigned protector, tried to reassure her that she was only being pushed so she could succeed, but she wondered exactly what would happen if she never got better. What if she failed him completely? Her mother's lessons became more difficult as well. There were so many rules to keep straight and so many ceremonies to master that it overwhelmed her at times. Mother was more tolerant of her mistakes though, and willing to correct her every time she needed help. Sometimes Ko brought her outside of the compound for a break, and they would walk around the village streets to as he pointed out different locations, like the Ninja Academy and the Hokage's Tower. He told her that she would go to the academy just like Neji when she got older. She faintly remembered a day when she saw a blonde haired boy around her age, yelling at the top of his lungs about how he was going to become Hokage someday. Ko took her back home after the boy ran off, telling her to stay away from him. She barely remembered his face now, but his words stuck in her head for some reason.

When Hinata was six, her mother passed away from an illness, leaving her one year old younger sister Hanabi behind. Both she and her father were devastated, even more than Hizashi's death. Without her mother's comfort, she grew more timid than before, almost in sync with her father's colder behavior towards her. Feeling abandoned and alone, she struggled even more during her training. After one abysmal sparring session, He started to train Hanabi too.

The day he pitted his two daughters against one another in a match was the day Hinata decided to change. It had gone terribly, with Hinata ending up on the ground, face down after receiving a jump kick to the chest. She was on her hands and knees, trying to recover, when she saw her father shake his head and start to walk away. She had failed him one too many times, and he had finally had enough of her. She could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks to drip on the floor, proof that she was weak. Her mother had left her, and now Father was going to leave. She couldn't bear the thought of being alone, all because she was too weak. She felt like running away, but where would she even go? What would it accomplish in the end? Instead, she shoved that wounded part of herself deep within her, gritted her teeth, and got to her feet to face Hanabi again, the tears no longer falling.

_"I'll be strong like my father, and I'll be kind like my mother!"_

With an unexpected battle cry that made her father turn back around in surprise, Hinata charged at her opponent for another round. Their fight was intense, but Hanabi was thrown flat on her back in under a minute, Hinata standing over her with desperation flickering in her eyes like an unstable flame. The rest of her face was an unreadable mask, just as she had been taught to look but had never successfully done before. That was the first time she had completely buried her heart. She cried herself to sleep in her room that night, the way she had attacked her own sister playing in her head over and over again. Hinata steadily improved from then on, pushing herself harder than ever before to get the approval she missed so much. Hanabi was always two steps behind her in progress now, struggling to equal her sister's blooming skills. Hinata used that same newfound inner power and applied it to her other lessons, impressing the tutors who had taken over for her mother. The hardened shell she had developed wasn't perfect yet, but she found herself giving in to emotions much less now, and never in the public eye. Father was proud again, along with the rest of the clan, and they often praised her strength now. But Hinata always continued to train, for if she ever stopped improving, she feared the praise would fade away, along with that strength she worked so hard for.

Just as Ko had promised when she was much younger, Hinata started to attend the Academy. Despite her stronger backbone, she was still smaller than the other children her age, so she was a favored target of bullies the first week. They disliked her pupiless eyes and quiet nature, and expressed it by pushing her around when no one was looking. Most of her other classmates completely ignored her presence. Her inability to make friends stung her, but she would never let anyone see it. She redoubled her school efforts and studied harder. She picked up the Academy's basic fighting style after some dedicated training, and proceeded to steamroll any girl with the misfortune to be selected as her sparring opponent after six months of practice. She gave the boys a run for their money when she figured out how to merge some Gentle fist movements into her form, defeating most of them reliably once a few more years passed and they lost their inherent size advantage over her. Now people stayed away from her simply because they were intimidated by her fighting skill combined with her unwelcoming, almost cold behavior. When she sat at her designated seat, the people next to her scooted away a little. They avoided her like she was dangerous when they were let out for recess. Being alone at break time did give her a chance to practice her weapon accuracy and chakra control more, so she didn't mind. A large amount of them were loud and irritating to her anyway. In the years leading to graduation, most students who knew of Hinata either were terrified of her, resented her, or had a level of respect for the Hyuga heir. She considered none of them as friends, afraid deep down that they would leave her if they got too close and she didn't meet their standards. Hinata Hyuga was a loner.

* * *

AN: Okay, so this is an AU fanfiction based on a a flashback shown in episode 166 of Naruto Shippuden, in case you didn't understand where certain scenes came from. The Diverging Point here is that instead of crying and running away from her spar with Hanabi that day and being rescued by Naruto, Hinata finds her own form of strength and defeats her sister, regaining her father's approval and her spot as Heiress. This changes her worldveiw drastically, along with the way she acts, and you can hopefully see from above. I have yet to see someone try this way of causing a "butterfly effect", so I'll try to stay original with the content and not have a rehash of Canon. She's not a completely different person now, as she still feels and cares, but she's a little...harder around the edges now. Bear with me as I attempt to get a better feel of her new character. More changes will be demonstrated in the first chapter, where the genin teams will be selected, and I can show some character interaction. I would love to get reviews telling me your opinions of this idea and how things could progress from here.


	2. Chapter 2

Hinata walked into her academy classroom, a newly earned headband tied around her neck. After easily passing her graduation exam and going home, she had a difficult time deciding where to wear it. She usually didn't put such deep personal thought into her appearance, only worrying about practicality and looking socially acceptable for her status, but her promotion to Genin made her realize how different her life would be now that she was an actual ninja. It would feel almost wrong to treat the next chapter of her career as just another school day. She eventually picked her headband's current position, after remembering how Neji always wore his on the forehead, covering his curse mark seal. Since her clan's main branch would throw a fit if they saw her wearing something to cover her blank forehead, it made sense to wear it in a different, but still easy to see area.

Hinata's second wardrobe change other than bringing a pouch and shuriken holster was the beige jacket with fur trim lining the bottom. She had found the jacket deep in the back of her closet, and had the urge to take it out. It had fit her perfectly, so she decided to take it along, if only on a whim. Maybe it would get cold on missions outside of the Land of Fire. That's how she justified it being potentially useful, anyway. Wearing it regularly would only slow her movements and make it look like she was hiding something, so she kept it around her waist. When her father had seen it this morning, his eyes widened a little before he returned to his paperwork, casually mentioning that it once belonged to her mother. Ignoring his quick recovery, she had caught the rare sight of emotion play on his face, something that only seemed to happen years ago. She had no idea why such a simple change had affected him so much until he admitted its importance, but that moment only reinforced her decision to wear the old sweatshirt. Now that she had found one of the few things left over from her less stressful childhood's time, Hinata wouldn't dare let her mother's jacket out of her sight for a moment. Everything else about her clothing was the same as usual, right down to the black training shirt with light chain mesh under armor and the deep blue Capri pants. That was enough of a difference for her. Any more would most likely cause people to stare once she got to class.

Much to her annoyance, she was still stared at when she passed the front row of desks by. Did they forget how "scary" she was that fast? After being so used to getting pushed away by them, she had no idea how to react to being the center of attention. Forcing the nervous feelings back, she kept her face blank and stared at the ground as she passed by. A few long moments later, and they were back to ignoring her as before. Feeling slightly less uncomfortable now that she couldn't sense ten pairs of eyes on her at once, Hinata opted to sit at the top desks in the back row instead of her middle spot. Assigned seats were meaningless now that they were graduates, and everyone seemed to be taking full advantage of this by spreading out all over the room to talk to each other. Once she sat down and everyone nearby adjusted their seats in accordance, the room's volume slowly rose to its normal level for when the teacher wasn't present-very loud. She sighed and folded her arms in front of her, leaning her chin on them as she scanned the rows below for anyone she bothered to keep track of during her academy stay. She had thrown herself into boosting her class rank so much, that she had very little time to commit people's names to memory unless they happened to cross her path enough times. At least some of the few faces she recognized must have passed.

There was Sasuke, one row lower and to the left of her. He looked uninterested in talking with anyone as well, just tapping a finger on his desktop as he waited with an expression of boredom. It would have caused a small political scandal if the last Uchiha didn't pass, really. Especially if he took his exam after seeing her come out with a headband. Sasuke wouldn't take it very well if the only classmate he saw as constant competition got ahead of him. Being beaten by a Hyuga, the heir of the clan that gained even more power since his own clan's demise, would make it twice as bad for his ego. Hinata thought he was a good rival too, if a slightly arrogant one. But then again, that same confidence in his own strength made him all the more formidable. Sasuke was never afraid to look her in the eye. He forced her to her limits in hand to hand sparring and matched her written test scores to the number, and there was a sort of thrill at being challenged by someone who could overtake her if she gave him an inch of leeway. Recently, their taijutsu battles were anyone's fight. Even with her custom mix of styles, he still managed to push her out of the ring or corner her a slight majority of the time, and he had been working on widening the gap he made between them. These last few weeks, she either tied with him or lost, occasionally winning on a good day. It was both infuriating and exciting at the same time, a reaction that no one else seemed to get out of her in fights. Yes, Sasuke was a decent opponent...when he wasn't surrounded by a crowd of pre-teen girls.

Just then, Sakura and Ino ran in from the door closest to the back, arguing about who 'won' their race. Hinata supressed a groan. Did those two really have to pass? Sure, Sakura was book smart and had strong chakra control, but her actual chakra reserves were tiny and her physical prowess was near nonexistent. She knew how to throw a punch, but she couldn't hit hard enough for it to matter in most cases. In summary, Sakura was extremely average. Ino was a bit better, but she was still below Hinata in roughly every subject. Ino's clan's secret technique was slow and near useless without a way to keep the target from escaping, and the Byakugan's chakra sensing vision made it even more ineffective when used against her. Every other female in class ranked somewhere below Sakura's level in skill, so there wasn't much competition for Rookie of the Year from that area. Hinata didn't have anything against them personally, but it still rubbed her the wrong way seeing people not putting effort into their training in favor of trying to capture the attention of a boy. After weathering their yelling for a few more minutes, she finally had enough and pushed out her chair, grabbing their attention with the unpleasant sound of it scraping across the floor. Hinata got up and walked over to where they were still standing. The two rivals watched her in silence, both looking confused as the slightly shorter girl stopped in front of them.

"Uh..." Ino recovered first, putting on a smile before continuing. "Hinata! How nice of you to join us! What brings you over here?" Hinata narrowed her eyes at the entirely forced cheerfulness in her tone. It may have fooled a member of another clan, but Hyuga were trained to read facial cues and body language as part of their fighting style. She decided that being blunt was best for this situation. Trying to make small talk or go around the subject could possibly be taken the wrong way is she wasn't careful with her words.

"Do you mind if I asked you to quiet down?" Hinata kept an even tone, trying not to intimidate them, but good intentions only went so far. Ino still looked like she'd just been threatened with a knife. Hinata could almost see the fear in their eyes. Were they still thinking about last week's taijutsu bouts? She didn't think she was too harsh during the spars with them. Sure, Sakura was pretty bruised up after getting an open palm to the torso, but other than that...

"E-er, of course! We had no idea we were being too loud or anything!" Ino raised her hands in surrender and started to drag Sakura off to a seat. "We can finish this later, Forehead." Sakura fired back up again.

"Who are you calling a forehead, Pig?"

"Oh, shut up!" They were bickering again, but they were whispering at least. Hinata turned to watch them sit at separate desks before going back to her own place. The room was fairly peaceful again. Right up until Naruto started bothering Sasuke, anyway. Hinata was genuinely surprised that the class clown was now a Genin. Didn't he fail his test? He hadn't mastered all three basic ninjutsu, at least to her knowledge. It took him two years to ge the transformation technique down, and the last time they had a practical exam, Naruto had failed to produce a single useable clone. It was sad to watch, considering he used enough chakra to create a whole platoon of illusions, if he actually knew what he was doing. It was strange, really. For someone who played jokes and goofed off all day, he sure had high chakra reserves. Naruto was the only student who could expel enough chakra for her to see without the Byakugan. Other than that, he was a hyperactive slacker that everyone seemed to go out of their way to avoid, who's grades were only better than Shikamaru's. Shikamaru purposely slept through all his tests anyway, so beating him meant nothing. Hinata only really knew about Naruto because of his constant troublemaking in class. Iruka-sensei chose that moment to enter, holding a clipboard with notes that he was studying intently.

"Naruto! Get off that desk and sit down!" He bellowed, looking up. Naruto groaned and hopped down to take the seat beside Sasuke. The rest of the class settled down after another yell for quiet. Iruka cleared his throat. "Alright, now that all the grades are finalized, I can announce this year's Rookie of the Year!" He flipped through the papers he had. "And by a margin of a few points, it's Sasuke Uchiha! Congratulations." There was a short round of applause along with a few boys complaining as Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement. Naruto pouted and sat lower in his chair, clearly upset with Sasuke's achievement. "The rest of your scores in order of highest to lowest are posted on the back bulletin board. And now for team assignments..." There was some speculative chatter as Iruka searched for his list. Some people didn't even realize that teams would be assigned until just then. Hinata did know beforehand, but she had completely forgotten about how genin were divided into squads of three, having been so focused on becoming one first. This meant that she would be stuck with two peope in this room until one of them promoted. Feeling a knot of unease in her stomach, she looked over her potential partners. Her chances of getting two people that wouldn't be bothersome or were willing to work hard were pretty slim. Out of 26 possible choices, she could only really think of three as good ones, being as lenient as she could.

"Team One is..." Iruka started calling out names. Hinata chose to let the subject of teammates go, realizing that wondering was pointless. They wouldn't saddle her with an incompetent person anyway, right? Then the entire team's efficiency would drop and they would no longer be balanced as Iruka had said they were. There was no need to worry. Hinata forced herself to calm down, making sure her emotional "wall" was still in place. A Hyuga never showed their inner thoughts unless they did so on purpose. Soon, her face was once again a perfect mask of indifference. "Team Seven is...Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga..." On the outside, she was glaring holes in her desk, not bothering to complain about her new placement. On the inside, she felt like punching something. Preferably something breakable.

Why? Why would Iruka do that to her? What was the point of pairing her up with the guy who couldn't make a single clone right? Why not Shino, or Kiba, or...or... Iruka cleared his throat, quieting everyone again. "The last member is Sasuke Uchiha." Or Sasuke? She looked up just in time to see Sasuke's face do a complete 180 from bored to irritated before groaning. "Squad Eight is Sakura Haruno, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame." Sakura looked disappointed, while Kiba didn't seem too bothered. Shino was as difficult to read as always. Most of his face was covered, so Hinata had nothing but his voice to judge from, and he wasn't much of a talker in the first place. "Squad Ten is Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. Those are all the assigned squads. Any questions?"

"Sensei, why does an awesome ninja like me have to be paired with a guy like him? Can he switch or something?" Naruto asked, pointing an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"On the contrary, Sasuke had the highest scores in the class, and you had the worst. To make your group even in skill, you had to be together."

"Just don't get in my way, loser." Sasuke said, still looking straight ahead. Naruto growled.

"What did you just say?"

"That's enough! Both of you are on a team and there will be no more discussion of it!" Iruka said. "After lunch, you will meet your Jounin sensei. Class dismissed." People started filing out, Naruto and Sasuke included, but Hinata stayed put, still trying to understand the reasoning for her chosen team. Balance? How was that balanced at all? If their team was forced to slow down for Naruto, how would they all progress? How would she continue to get stronger? If she wasn't getting stronger, then she was getting weaker, and that wasn't an option. Having weakness meant failure, and Hinata was not a failure...right? Doubt came to her mind, if only a much weaker version of how it was before. It wasn't all-consuming now, but she still had to reassure herself on occasions. Of course she was still strong. Sasuke may have gotten the upper hand, but she could always push her training harder to make up for it. Another hour of drills on the practice field should help. The fresh cuts on her palms from yesterday's training still stung even beneath the wraps she always wore and the medicine she had applied, but she could push herself a little further. Her hands clenched before she released them, emotions settled for the moment. Hinata got up and walked over to door, intent on getting over to her usual spot for lunch, and then a session of Gentle Fist katas. Any thoughts about her team were pushed aside in favor of routine. All she needed to focus on was getting stronger. Everything else would figure itself out.

* * *

AN: Please review and tell me how I'm doing with this! I'll try to answer any questions you may have about this AU and any characters that may show up later. And no, there will be no bashing in this fic. If it looks like I'm bashing, there's a reason for it, and it won't last long. I like all the characters I write about! Thanks to zerOrange for beta-ing this!


	3. Chapter 3

"Stupid Sasuke. Why can't that prick get his own team to show off on?"

Naruto picked at his lunch and grumbled to himself as he sat on a rooftop railing, looking over the Academy's entrance. Today was supposed to be awesome, the day he finally started getting a little respect around the village. He could still feel the relief and excitement from this morning, when he woke up and realized that he really did become a ninja. Iruka-sensei's beaten up old headband sitting on his dresser proved that it was all real. And when he walked outside with it on, people actually _looked_ at him, but not with pity or apathy like before. Their eyes were different now, if only for a few moments. Whether they liked it or not, Naruto was no longer the Nine-tailed Fox, but a Leaf shinobi.

It was the day he was going to stop being the class loser, always lagging behind everyone else. He would surpass them all now, and then they'd acknowledge his existence at last. But now that he was still stuck with the prodigy, two no less, how was he supposed to look any good in comparison? He couldn't even impress Sakura, because she was assigned with Kiba and Shino. How bad could it get from here?

He heard the sound of a door creaking open, and he looked down to see his female teammate finally leaving the school. What was her name again? Right, Hinata.

"Hm...Wonder what took her so long?" Naruto watched her walk for a second or two before shrugging and going back to eating. And then an idea struck him. Sasuke definitely wouldn't want to be anywhere near him, but Hinata never directly fought with or insulted Naruto before. One could argue that she wasn't friendly with and didn't really talk to anyone in class, including himself, so there wasn't much opportunity to be a jerk outside of forced interaction, but still. Even then, she was more cold and kind of scary to people than insulting. There was a slim chance that she actually didn't hate him, or was at least willing to work with him as part of a squad. It wouldn't kill him to try to get along with at least one out of two members of his team, right?

It was decided then. Naruto shoved his half eaten food back into his pouch and started climbing back down the building as fast as possible, not even noticing the inattentive Sasuke leaning on someone's porch and eating a rice ball across the street.

"Hey, Hinata! Wait up!" He caught up after a few minutes of running full tilt through the village after her, earning him a slightly surprised look from his target before she stopped. Her usual unfazed expression returned as soon as he got closer.

"Naruto." Her voice had a hard edge to it, catching him off guard. He was expecting something...softer, maybe. He hadn't really heard her speak in a few years, so it had probably changed from what he remembered last. Oh well, that wasn't important. "Well...what do you want?"

"I was thinking, since we're on a team and all now...You want to have lunch with me?" he asked, grinning in anticipation. He had never eaten lunch with a classmate before, and he had a feeling she had never done so either, so they had something in common there. If she was as lonely as he was all those years, then she would certainly-

"No." She turned back around and started to walk away again without missing a beat, causing his jaw to drop. Naruto's eyes narrowed, now even more determined. He was going to get to know her even if it physically hurt them both, damn it! Running up to her again, he grabbed her shoulder and forcefully turned her around. Hinata's arm twitched, as if about to retaliate, but he didn't allow himself to flinch away and stared her dead in the eyes. This seemed to confuse her into staying put, so he kept eye contact as he thought of how to convince her. Her eyes were actually kind of interesting up close, like those fancy marbles that looked like there was liquid inside of them, except pearl colored. Wait, he needed to focus! How to get her to agree with him... Now what did Iruka always tell him to say when he was asking something important?

"...Please?"

* * *

How did Hinata end up sitting next to the dead last in the middle of the training field again? Right, because he said _please_. Well, it was more complicated than that, but she still said yes in the end. When he had asked that second time, she was fully prepared to refuse again just so she could do what she always did during break period. Alone. After being actively avoided by pretty much the entire class for a few years, she had gotten accustomed to doing things alone, to the point of someone wanting to follow her seemed absurd. Hinata started to wonder if he was just messing with her as a prank. Wasn't Naruto usually preoccupied with irritating Sakura?

And then he was obnoxious enough to_ force_ her to pay attention to him. As soon as his hand touched her shoulder, she almost instinctively lashed out with an open palm before she locked eyes with him. At first, she just glared back, but then she started to look deeper. His usual cheerful demeanor was gone, replaced by a familiar sadness that was strong enough to make her pause. Not many people were willing to expose themselves like that, in front of someone who's entire fighting style was finding and exploiting weaknesses. After all those years of thinking he was just a stupidly cheerful orphan... Neither of them said a word for what felt like hours, until she finally pulled out of his grip and said yes. The fact that she allowed her will to be so quickly bent by her own sympathy bothered her, but what was done was done. Emotions were not as easy to crush or ignore as she had originally thought long ago.

Which brought her back to her current position, leaning against a tree while Naruto sat on the other side, listening to him slurping what was probably cup ramen as she silently contemplated. This was one of those times when she hated having a soft side. If someone caught her hanging around with him, like her father...she could feel the embarrassment now.

"Are you okay?" She hadn't realized that her eyes had closed in thought, and she was greeted to Naruto's face a few inches from her own when she opened them again, startling her. Whatever happened to respecting personal space?

"I'm fine," she said curtly, pushing him back with one hand. Thankfully, he complied.

"Really? Because you looked kinda red there for a few seconds..." Hinata couldn't tell if he was truly concerned, or just trying to make a joke out of her flushed face that she was attempting to gain some control over. She sighed and sat down, crossing her legs to try to meditate. Training in front of someone was not what she wanted to do today, and Naruto would ask endless questions that she didn't feel like answering.

"It's just the heat." After a moment of studying her, he nodded before sitting beside her. For a while, silence reigned, interrupted only by the distant sounds of people and the occasional bird.

"So..." Naruto started. Hinata mentally groaned. So much for silence. "What's up with your eyes? They're all...pearly and stuff."

"Pearly and stuff?" She gave him a sidelong glance. Naruto huffed at her jab.

"You know what I'm talking about! They're pale colored, and I can't really see the black part."

"It's because of my bloodline limit. My eyesight is...sharper than normal." Hinata explained. If they were going to be stuck together, she might as well tell him about the Byakugan, if only in broad terms. Revealing exactly how it worked to a non-clan member was out of the question though, unless it was necessary for a mission. As long as he didn't probe further...

"Sharper, huh?" Naruto said to himself, nodding slightly. "Is it like...X-Ray vision or something?"

"...Partially, but it's more complicated than that." After a few beats of quiet, he grinned.

"Show me." She looked back at him this time with more interest than annoyance.

"What?"

"I mean, if it's too complicated to explain, then show it to me! _Demonstrate,_" Naruto challenged her. "Unless you can't do it..." At first, Hinata was tempted to just ignore him again. What was the point of getting sucked into his childish game of dare? But on the other hand, if she couldn't back up her claim, it would reflect badly on her reputation. Looking up at the sun's position in the sky, she saw there was still an hour left for their extended lunch break. Maybe she could humor him for a while, and get some real training in too.

"If you insist, I guess I can prove it to you," she said, getting up. "How about we play...hide and seek? You can hide in trees somewhere, so I can track you down. Anywhere is fine, as long as you don't leave the training grounds." Naruto got up in an instant.

"Alright! Wait...can I use jutsu?" Hinata shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to me." He smiled wider, as if he were already planning something, before turning to leave.

"Just don't expect me to make it easy!" he yelled back, and charged into the woods. Hinata waited a few minutes before starting her search, assuming he would need all the help he could get. Confident she could locate him without too much effort, She formed a single hand sign to mold her chakra.

"Byakugan!" The veins around her eyes bulged as her vision shifted, her pupils changing color from light purple to white. The world turned into shades of black and white, only the flickers of chakra in the air and seeped in the training grounds having any color. Hinata's vision extended to look deeper into the trees, picking up a much larger chakra signature farther ahead. It was most likely Naruto judging by the familiar outline, and the fact that he was badly attempting to scale a tree with just his hands and feet. How exactly did he pass again? But just as she was about to go after him, Naruto's chakra spiked dramatically. In a burst of smoke, a small mass of clones appeared. "Hm...So he can use the clone technique after all." Not that it even mattered in this situation, as the jutsu was easily seen through with the Byakugan. Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the slowly spreading clones. Except now. Every single clone matched the original's appearance, including their chakra levels and internal organs. It was impossible to tell them apart, no matter how hard she looked. "That's not an Academy jutsu..." she mumbled. It looked like something much more complicated, but how could Naruto have come across and learned such a technique in a matter of a few days? She'd have to ask him about that later, but first...

"Hey! Aren't you gonna find me?" A multitude of voices called out from multiple directions. The strange clones had spread themselves around her in a short time, and Hinata had no idea which one was the original anymore with so many running around. Realizing that she was now stuck looking for the equivalent of a needle in a stack of _other needles, _Hinata started to search on foot, feeling far from intelligent. This was going to take a while.

* * *

Sasuke stared at the classroom's entrance, waiting at his desk for someone to show up to collect his team. Lunch had ended a while ago, and all the other genin had left with their respective new teacher, group by group. Kiba, Sakura, and Shino were picked up by a woman with dark hair and bright red eyes that made Sasuke look twice at her, just to be safe. Ino, Shikamaru and Choji went off with a tall, bearded man smoking a cigarette. The room had slowly but surely cleared after that, leaving Squad 7 behind. Whoever ther sensei was, they were late. Three hours late, to be precise. His eyebrow twitched at the thought, wondering what could possibly be taking so long.

Naruto had long forgone sitting still and was now pacing around the room, impatient as usual and grumbling insults about tardiness under his breath. Hinata watched him go back and forth from her retaken position in the back of the room, just following their teammate with her eyes out of possible boredom. She was as stotic as ever, unlike when she had first come back from break. Seeing her walking behind Naruto of all people, looking as if they had been dragged through the woods, was an unusual sight. Come to think of it, today was one of the few times Sasuke had seen her flustered at all. Maybe she wasn't nearly as emotionless as he had first believed. He filed that information away for later use. Knowing his rival's potential weak points could win him a battle someday, not that Sasuke wasn't winning already.

"That's it!" Naruto's outburst broke him form his musings. "If he wants to be late, then he's gonna get punished, Sensei or not!" He picked up a chalk board eraser and smiled mischieviously, eyeing the door. "Now if I set this there..."

"Put the eraser down before you do something stupid, Naruto." Hinata said, giving him an irritated look.

"Hey, my pranks aren't stupid! I put a lot of effort into them," Naruto responded. Sasuke smirked despite himself after hearing his complaining. He talked about his pranks as if Hinata had just insulted his museum worthy artwork or something.

"Do you really think a joke like that would work on an elite ninja?"

"Shut up, Sasuke! He would of totally fallen for it!"

Hinata sighed before suddenly turning to face the door, Byakugan activating. Her eyes were the only natural distinct advantage she had over him, Sasuke noted. As soon as he unlocked his own bloodline...

"Quiet idiot, someone's coming," Sasuke cut their argument off. Footsteps could be heard from down the hall. Hinata narrowed her eyes before she let the Byakugan fade.

"There's a Jounin approaching, judging by appearance," she said.

"It's about time!" Naruto said, just as a silver haired man in standard ninja attire walked in. He had one eye covered by his tilted headband, and a cloth mask covered his nose and mouth. The jounin rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, sorry about the wait, I got turned around in the hallways. I haven't been to the Academy in a while."

"No you didn't! Who gets lost for three hours in a building?" For once, Sasuke agreed with Naruto. The jounin didn't seem to care either way, as he continued to talk.

"How about we just meet up one the rooftops?" He teleported away, leaving a few leaves behind. Sasuke grunted and got up to follow. He might as well get this over with as fast as possible. Hinata blinked in surprise at the Body Flicker technique before trailing after him, Naruto running to catch up.

* * *

Kakashi flipped through a book as he stood on the roof, discreetly watching his assigned genin as they went to sit down in front of him. To be honest, he had no real desire to train a team, but the Hokage had insisted he take one again. The same thing happened year after year. He'd get recommended to train a promising young bunch of kids, and then Kakashi would fail them for not meeting his standards. And this time, he managed to recieve the last Uchiha, the Hyuga clan's heiress, and Konoha's Jinchuriki. If Kakashi did automatically fail them like the rest, he'd get complaints from the higher ups who wanted extra power to showcase to make the Leaf look stronger, and that didn't even cover the backlash from the Hyuga for not promoting their Main house prodigy. It was like Lord Sarutobi had set it up like that on purpose. He hated politics sometimes... Oh well, he'd just evaluate the genin based on their profiles and performances during his test, and base his decision off of that. If Kakashi claimed they were unfit to become active ninja, no one could argue with the facts and they would have to let him off the hook. And based off the personality and behavioral information Iruka provided, this team was _built_ to fall apart.

"How about you all tell us about yourselves?" Kakashi suggested to them, leaning on a railing. No one responded at first, Sasuke looking at him like he had just been asked what color the sky was, and Hinata looking just plain bored. Kakashi was starting to feel ridiculous standing there in front of them, waiting for an answer that would never come, but then Naruto spoke up. "Uh, what do you mean, Sensei?"

"You know, what you like and hate, hobbies, dreams, goals..."

"Why don't you show us how it's done? An example would help." Well, at least the Jinchuriki was participating in the conversation. Hinata didn't say a word, but seemed to be listening to Kakashi more attentively now. He shrugged.

"Why not? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I like not talking about my likes and dislikes. My dreams are  
none of your business, and I have many hobbies. Your turn!" His genin looked extremely unamused with him, but Naruto bounced back the fastest.

"Okay! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like instant ramen, but Ichiraku Ramen is even better! I hate waiting three minutes for my ramen to cook." Sasuke snorted, and Naruto stuck his tounge out at him in response before fiddling with his head band. He did that a lot, Kakashi had noticed. "And my dream is...to become Hokage!"

Kakashi raised a brow at his bold statement, but didn't comment on it. So the keeper of the Nine-Tails wanted to be the Hokage? It'd be an interesting thought, at least. "Then this whole village will acknowledge me at last! Oh, and my hobby is pranking, I guess." He scratched the back of his head and grinned. Kakashi inwardly sighed. Naruto's maturity level was still low. He'd take a huge amount of effort to get anywhere near the mentality of a chunin, let alone a kage. Oh well, a boy could dream, couldn't he?

"Well then…next!" Sasuke grunted and started his own introduction.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," he said in a monotone. "I dislike many things, and there are very few things I like. I have no dream, for what I want to accomplish _will_ happen one day." His words were colder now, tinged with a sudden hate. "I plan to revive my clan, and kill a certain someone who wronged me." After a few seconds of silence, Naruto scooted away from Sasuke a little. Kakashi made a mental note about Sasuke's apparent aggressiveness when it came to the circumstances of his dead family. It could become troublesome later on if not kept in check. He moved on to the last person.

"And you…?" Hinata had been staring at the Hokage monument since Naruto had finished, only half listening until Sasuke had revealed his…interesting ambition.

"...My name is Hinata Hyuga. I like...training and bettering myself. I dislike people who don't try their hardest. My dream is..." She hesitated, as if not entirely certain of her own goal. "My dream is to succeed my father as head of my clan. My hobbies are flower pressing, and playing string instruments." Both Naruto and Sasuke seemed surprised at hearing the last part, but neither questioned it. It did sound less generic to Kakashi than the rest though. He hummed thoughtfully. At least his temporary team wasn't boring, unlike a few other groups he could think of.

"Alright, I think that's enough sharing for one day. We'll have a mission tomorrow."

"Ooh! What are we gonna do, Sensei?" Naruto jumped up.

"It'll only involve this squad, and I'm running you through a survival exercise."

"A...survival exercise?"

"Yes, but this one will be much more difficult than the Academy classes. I will be your opponent. Oh, and this simulation has a failure rate of about...66%. If you don't pass, I have to send you back for more training." Sasuke scowled.

"Then what was the graduation test for?" he asked.

"Yeah, we passed fair and square! What gives?"

"Kakashi-sensei, is every other team going to take a second exam?" Hinata cut in. Kakashi nodded.

"Out of the 27 graduates of your class, only nine will be allowed to become part of a genin squad. We will meet up tomorrow morning on the 32nd practice field just before dawn. Be fully prepared for battle, and try not to eat breakfast, or else you'll just end up throwing it back up again!" Kakashi said in what could be called a cheerful tone. He gave a fake salute before teleporting away again. He reappeared across the street on top of another building, out of sight from the three he left behind. From his new vantage point, he could see Sasuke getting up and walking away, Naruto yelling something at his retreating back. Hinata was just observing the two as they fought, not seeming too concerned with the tension they had. Kakashi shook his head at their interactions before departing for real this time. If his "team" didn't pull it together tomorrow, they were in for a rude awakening.

* * *

AN: Yes, this is continuing. I just don't have a steady updating schedule. As usual, tell me what you think of the characters, and what improvements could be made. Next chapter should be Kakashi's test, as long as I stay on track. And once we get past that part, we should see some more diverging plot from Canon. Hopefully, the original content will be interesting for everyone.


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